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Websleuths News

Join Websleuths Radio for the final discussion of THE KILLING SEASON
with Josh Zemam, Rachel Mills and special guests including Bob Kolker author of Lost Girls

Australia - Ross Warren, 25, Sydney, July 22 1989 - Presumed dead

Ross Warren was a famous WIN news TV newsreader who disappeared in the height of the epidemic of anti-gay violence in Sydney between 1970s and late ‘90s where up to 80 gay men had been murdered and 30 cases still unsolved. Most of the victims were found, Ross's remains still haven't been located. Circumstances: Ross was last seen driving his vehicle east on Oxford Street towards Paddinton about 2.00am on 22 July 1989. Extensive inquiries were conducted by police whereby Ross's vehicle was located in the vicinity of Marks Point, Bondi on the morning of 24 July 1989. Ross failed to attend work and family and friends have not heard from him. This behavior is totally out of character for him. Grave fears are held for his safety.

Hmmmm, I read a book on this quite some time ago. "The Beat" I think it was called. Marks Park in Bondi was notorious for being a "gay beat" whereby men would meet and "socialise" (yes, I'm using a euphamism) within the area, providing a perfect opportunity for anti-gay sentiment to erupt into violence. Ross has never been found. There were others that also fell victim to the violence. Some were bashed, robbed and left for dead. One was found at the base of a cliff within the area. An appalling part of Sydney crime history.

You cannot unsee what has been seen,
You cannot unhear what has been heard

"There was a culture of gay-hate bashings ... It didn't stop at the Harbour Bridge. We've heard stories of the equivalent of the Alexandria Eight or the Bondi Boys who regularly gay-bashed along the northern beaches."
The postcodes for the unpublicised cases stretch from Mosman to Collaroy on the north side. There were the brothers from Narrabeen, aged 15 and 12, who would travel to the city in the late 1980s to bash and rob gays and Asians in Kings Cross and Moore Park. A couple of cases involve men found naked at the base of cliffs, north and south of the harbour, their clothes folded on the cliff-tops - as with Scott Johnson.
-----But the dozens of kids in those gangs have grown up. They are approaching middle-age. Not all did the bashing but they have been living with these secrets, and the guilt, ever since. "Someone's going to open their mouth one day," says Ted Russell, whose 31-year-old son John was found at the base of a Bondi cliff in November, 1989.
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He hopes someone from the Bondi gang can find as much courage and finally come forward with the truth. It is the girls he thinks about most. "I've always wondered what sort of mothers they would make."
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Homicide detectives have revealed they are reviewing the 1989 disappearance of WIN TV newsreader Ross Warren.
Warren’s case will be included in a review of two gay-hate murders and another disappearance on the Bondi cliff-tops.
Warren, 25, disappeared on July 22, 1989.
Police have pleaded for the public’s help to solve many more killings of homosexual men dating back decades.
Homicide squad commander Detective Superintendent Mick Willing said police couldn’t solve some of these cases without the help of the community.
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‘‘If someone has information – evidence, I should say evidence – of a particular homicide, I want them to come forward,’’ Supt Willing said. ‘‘I really want them to come forward.’’

April 11 2003SMH April 11 2003. Read More: Woman denies saying she had role in gay bashingA woman had admitted taking part in "poofter bashing" in Sydney and knew a missing television newsreader had been thrown off a cliff, witnesses told an inquiry yesterday.
The NSW Coroners Court was told Merlyn McGrath, of Nowra, told a friend, known as Miss M, her mother, Miss X, and a former NSW police constable about Mr Warren.